As a fan of early Tobe Hooper material, I’m somewhat ashamed
to admit that I had never taken the dive into his killer bayou flick Eaten Alive. The film has a diehard cult
following and it seemed interesting enough from the clips I had seen, but I
never really got around to actually watching the film. With Arrow Video’s
latest (and dare I say greatest) home release of the film though, it was high
time to partake in the flick. Eaten Alive
might not be as groundbreaking as Hooper’s tour de force The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and it might not be as outrageously
psychedelic and hilarious as The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre 2, but the film sits nicely as a strange combination of
the two with its fairly off kilter narrative and interesting knack for the oddball
style. It’s easy to see why this is a cult favorite with these elements and it
gave me a left hook that I was not expecting.

The Starlight Hotel is the perfect place for weary travelers
to rest while wandering about the bayou. It’s too bad that it happens to be run
by a very strange fellow Judd (Brand) who has uncontrollable emotional spikes
that seem to leave his guests in the mouth of his very hungry pet crocodile. When
his rage starts to leave a body trail though, he finds himself with some new
guests that might uncover his secret…

Arrival.

The expectations going into Eaten Alive were that it would be something of a late 70s slasher,
a film that tried to re-capitalized on the growing cult popularity of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However, Eaten Alive is not nearly like that. It
certainly has all the slasher elements like the gimmicky villain with his
scythe and crocodile, gratuitous nudity, unique deaths, and a rotating series
of victims, but calling it a slasher certainly undermines some of the oddities
of its artistic nature. In many ways, the film is almost more akin to an exploitative
version of Psycho than a true
slasher. The film has no ‘real’ protagonist that drives the film and instead
presents itself as a slice of time between the time the first victim, a young
woman looking for shelter after she realizes she doesn’t have what it takes to
be a prostitute at the local brothel, and when the villainous Judd’s little
world crumbles. In that time, Judd – played with a quirky and utterly
fascinating spin by Neville Brand – acts as a sort of focal antagonist for the
film. The cast of various “heroes and victims” becomes a rotating roster from
there which gives the film a strange structure to it. Even the sheriff, the
classic Stuart Whitman, doesn’t show up until roughly half way through the film
and doesn’t seemingly do much except give some emotional weight to the various
other guests of the hotel.

Waiting room.

It’s this merry-go-round style of characters that will obviously
rub some horror fans the wrong way. Truthfully, the audience doesn’t have one
person to really invest in and root for. The audience roots for all of the
people, in one way or another particularly a mother and daughter duo that find
themselves trapped in the hotel, but it’s hard to invest in any of the
characters fully. In an intriguing spin on the slasher elements, the film tends
to play all of the men as unstable and often delirious caricatures. Mel Ferrer
pops up in what would seem to be the main protagonist role about half way
through the film, but he’s quickly deemed inept due to grief. The same goes
again and again for a lot of the characters like the above mentioned sheriff or
the sleazy Buck played by genre legend Robert Englund. The female roles
however, tend to be stronger and more determined. This choice works well to
play off of the craziness of Judd and his reptilian co-killer. It’s a spin on
the slasher motif that works in delightful (and thoughtful) ways to add even
more layers for the more devout cinephiles to peel back.

Beyond the off center nature of its plotting and the unique
character roster, Eaten Alive also works
as a sort of theatrical horror film. I say theatrical because there seems to be
an intent to make the plot and visuals, particularly in the opening, feel very
presentational versus representational. The swamp that the Starlight Hotel
rests in is lit in a very bright red wash lighting and the obvious sets and
prop crocodile are not hidden by how Hooper shoots the film. He almost owns the
film’s low budget and makes it another layer of how the film almost mocks its
horror nature. Why the hell would anyone have a scythe in the middle of a
bayou? He’s not a farmer and it’s not a useful tool to cut through the foliage.
It’s just another piece of how over the top and ridiculously theatrical Eaten Alive wants to be in its horror
elements. Even most of the death scenes seem a bit out there. I’m trying to
limit the spoilers in this review, but this film somehow pulls off its
outrageous moments with enough tension and atmosphere to keep it scary without
ever losing its awkward sense of humor. This is Hooper at some of his best.

Departure.

While there seems to be a slew of mixed feelings about Eaten Alive from fans and critics alike,
the odd sense of humor and horror to the film had me sold from minute one and it
carried throughout the entire showing of the film. Arrow Video and their brilliantly
remastered release of the film showcases it in the best possible way and it’s a
film that fully deserves the kind treatment it has been given with this Blu Ray
and DVD combo pak. It’s truly a cult horror gem if there ever was one to pick
up in the Halloween season. Eaten Alive
is truly an innovative and unique horror viewing experience and this release is
worthy of the artistic (and tongue in cheek) nature of the film.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

ARROW VIDEO FEATURES:

Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative, approved by director Tobe Hooper

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Here at Blood Brothers we, cult fan brothers Eric and Matt, are dedicated to bringing reviews to some of the worlds best (and worst, depending on your taste) cult like films from around this large globe. Whether it be Horror, Science Fiction, Kung Fu, or any other cult like genre - we are your first and last stop for all your review needs. Unapologetically kvlt.

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